WWPA Men's Championship Day 1 Recap

2018 WWPA Men's Championship Central

FRESNO, Calif. - The 2018 Western Water Polo Association (WWPA) Men's Championship first day of competition wrapped up Friday afternoon at Clovis West Olympic Aquatic Center. The top three seeds moved on to the semifinals, while No. 5-seed Air Force upset No. 4-seed Cal Baptist to punch its ticket to the semifinal against UCSD.

Game 1: #1 UC San Diego 11, #8 Fresno Pacific 4 | Box Score
Top-seeded UC San Diego cruised to an 11-4 victory against host and No. 8-seed Fresno Pacific. UCSD led 7-3 at the break and limited the Sunbirds to a single goal in the second stanza. WWPA First Teamer Connor Turnbow-Lindenstadt and Kacper Langiewicz led the Tritons with three goals each.

FPU's Josh Ramage tallied 17 saves in the cage while WWPA Honorable Mention honoree Kyle Eoff scored twice. The Sunbirds will play in the 7th Place game on Saturday at 8:30 a.m. against No. 7-seed Concordia.

Game 2: #5 Air Force 6, #4 Cal Baptist 5 | Box Score
Air Force goalkeeper James Burke made 11 saves, including a point-blank stop against CBU's Logan Mena with moments remaining, to lift the No. 5-seed Falcons to a 6-5 win over No. 4-seed California Baptist.

Following a first half that ended 3-3 with three ties and two lead changes, Air Force registered back-to-back goals from Justin Harrison and Eddie Smet to give them a two-goal cushion. Dominick Nevarez pulled one back for CBU to stay within one, but Reagan Pittman answered to make it 6-4 at the end of the third.

Zach Lowery's goal with 2:20 remaining pulled the Lancers within 6-5. CBU then had a possession to try and force overtime, but Air Force Samuel Fuller came away with a steal to seal the game.

Game #3: #2 UC Davis 19, #7 Concordia 6 | Box Score
Eric Martel scored four goals, Nir Gross added three and No. 2-seed UC Davis rolled to a 19-6 win over No. 7-seed Concordia. The match stayed tight until late in the second quarter, but CUI was held scoreless over the final 16:48 of the contest. R.J. Quigley and Jonah Addington combined for 11 saves in net for the Aggies.

Game #4: #3 Loyola Marymount 12, #6 Santa Clara 10 | Box Score
Loyola Marymount put together a strong second half to edge Santa Clara, 12-10, in the finale of day one. Alexandros Athymaritis and Blazo Mitrovic led the Lions with three goals apiece while Austin Clark added a pair.

The teams traded scores until LMU scored back-to-back to take an 8-6 lead. LMU kept SCU at bay the rest of the way, using a goal from Dayne Jagga with just over two minutes remaining to keep the cushion.